HDP’s Sancar says opposition unable to break government’s siege
The government imposes a statist consensus on critical issues showcasing them as “matters of survival” and the opposition finds itself unable to break this siege, pro-Kurdish HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) Co-Chair Mithat Sincar said on Saturday.
“The opposition either acts very cautiously or remains silent when it comes to statism. The government draws a playing field and places very critical points on this playing field, knows or assumes that the opposition will not object to and is usually not mistaken in this; The opposition cannot leave its field on these issues drawn by the government within the framework of the statist consensus,” Sincar said in an interview with Yeniden TV youtube channel.
Sincar said the ruling bloc prepares an election campaign for next year’s presidential elections based on policies of war, inside and outside the country, thus aims to silence the opposition and consolidate its electoral base.
The censorship law, putting Sebnem Korur Fincanci and Kurdish journalists behind bars were all implementation of these policies by the ruling bloc, Sincar said.
Sincar said HDP continued its strategy for a joint presidential candidate with the six opposition parties that form the Nation’s Alliance and is ready to openly start debate over the transition process and principles but also established an Election Coordination Committee to define criteria for the party’s candidate.
“We are not going to suspend our work until the end to wait for answers from other parties. Our aim will be to find a name that will embrace the widest segments on the road to democracy and freedom in Turkey” he said.
Last week, HDP’s other Co-Chair Pervin Buldan also said that HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) played a key role in the elections and it will decide how to play this role by activating all its mechanisms, adding that those who ignore the party’s existence would not be supported by the party.
If the candidate designated by the opposition parties “takes into account and accepts HDP's criteria, principles and mission, of course, we will have a dialogue and negotiation about what we will do in the elections. But if you ignore the HDP, good luck to you," Buldan said.
The Nation’s Alliance avoid getting too close to HDP for fear of losing nationalist votes, as the ruling AKP-MHP bloc accuses HDP of supporting “terrorism” due to its alleged links with PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party.)
However, top pollsters say the opposition does not stand a chance against the ruling bloc’s candidate President Tayyip Erdogan should they fail to secure Kurdish votes.
